Ars Technica

Google got some disappointing news at a status conference Tuesday, where US District Judge Amit Mehta suggested that Google's AI products may be restricted as an appropriate remedy following the government's win in the search monopoly trial.

According to Law360, Mehta said that "the recent emergence of AI products that are intended to mimic the functionality of search engines" is rapidly shifting the search market. Because the judge is now weighing preventive measures to combat Google's anticompetitive behavior, the judge wants to hear much more about how each side views AI's role in Google's search empire during the remedies stage of litigation than he did during the search trial.

"AI and the integration of AI is only going to play a much larger role, it seems to me, in the remedy phase than it did in the liability phase," Mehta said. "Is that because of the remedies being requested? Perhaps. But is it also potentially because the market that we have all been discussing has shifted?"

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The Biden administration on Tuesday issued sweeping health care proposals that would see Medicare plans greatly expand access to blockbuster GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, bar insurers from skipping out on paying certain claims that were granted prior authorization, and reinforce guardrails on the use of AI.

The proposals fit into the administration's existing aims to improve and protect access to care in Medicare and Medicaid programs. But, the future of the proposals is uncertain, as it will be up to the Trump administration to finalize the policies.

The flashiest of the proposals is to reinterpret existing law in such a way as to allow Medicare and Medicaid coverage of anti-obesity drugs—particularly the extremely popular and pricy GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Zepbound. Existing policy excludes coverage of drugs used for "weight loss" or "weight gain."

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The United States will have a second team competing in Formula 1 from 2026, when Cadillac Formula 1 will join the sport as its 11th team. The result is a complete 180 for the sport's owner, which was highly resistant to the initial bid, first announced at the beginning of 2023.

"As the pinnacle of motorsports, F1 demands boundary-pushing innovation and excellence. It's an honor for General Motors and Cadillac to join the world's premier racing series, and we're committed to competing with passion and integrity to elevate the sport for race fans around the world," said GM President Mark Reuss. "This is a global stage for us to demonstrate GM's engineering expertise and technology leadership at an entirely new level."

We will have to wait until 2028 to see that full engineering potential on display. Even with the incoming changes to the technical regulations, it's far more than the work of a minute to develop a new F1 hybrid powertrain, let alone a competitive package. Audi has been working on its F1 powertrain since at least 2023, as has Red Bull, which decided to make its internal combustion engine in-house, like Ferrari or Mercedes, with partner Ford providing the electrification.

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The 2021 Korean series Squid Game was a massive hit for Netflix, racking up 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks and snagging 14 Emmy nominations. Fans have been longing for a second season ever since, and we're finally getting it this year for Christmas. Netflix just released the official trailer.

(Spoilers for S1 below.)

The first season followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, seen earlier this year in The Acolyte), a down-on-his-luck gambler who has little left to lose when he agrees to play children's playground games against 455 other players for money. The twist? If you lose a game, you die. If you cheat, you die. And if you win, you might also die.

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